Throughout his prolific career, Michel Tremblay had his favorite muses and bearers of words, who knew how to convey all the brilliance of his writings on stage. It is to all these performers and their fellows that the Quebec playwright pays homage with his most recent play, Dear Chekhov.
Posted yesterday at 4:15 p.m.
The title suggests an affectionate greeting to Anton Chekhov, a great Russian author who has always been adored by the theatrical world. It’s not totally wrong. But the piece that closes the season of 70and anniversary of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM) deals with much more intimate and universal subjects than the life or work of the author of The Seagull…
With enormous humility, Michel Tremblay opens his thoughts to us here by recounting his doubts as an author, his tireless quest for relevance, his fear of being overwhelmed. All things that eventually emerge in the aging human.
Through his scenic alter ego embodied with humor and great sensitivity by Gilles Renaud, Michel Tremblay also lifts the veil on his creative process. Because while the author addresses the public and shares his questions, a play unfolds nearby. It is an unfinished play that the playwright decided to pull out of his drawers years later.
The piece goes as follows. A family of artists – mostly actors – gathers at the childhood home for Thanksgiving. But the storm is brewing: Claire, the great star adored by the public, has invited her boyfriend of the hour for the occasion. The latter is a theater critic, who handles contempt with dexterity and exhausted the last text of Benoit, one of the members of the clan. To say this critic is unwelcome is an understatement! But Claire has always done as she pleases… much to the chagrin of the rest of the siblings.
Before the eyes of the spectators, Michel Tremblay/Gilles Renaud revises this text, crosses out the lines or passes them from one mouth to another. On stage, the performers perform. “Is it boring to know how a play or a novel is constructed? », asks the author at one point. On the contrary ! There is something fascinating – and very funny – in seeing this high caliber cast (we will come back to this) become a moving material according to the desires of the creator. Especially since Michel Tremblay has a tremendous talent as a dialogue writer, which the passing of the years has not blunted.
PHOTO YVES RENAUD, PROVIDED BY THE TNM
Isabelle Vincent, Patrick Hivon, Anne-Marie Cadieux and Henri Chassé are part of the imposing cast of Dear Chekhov.
The most famous of Quebec playwrights has always loved actors, he said so many times in his life. He proves it once again by putting the theater performers at the center of this text, casting on their exacerbated sensitivity a light that is not always flattering, but so loving.
We feel his admiration for their courage to get back on stage night after night, their desire to push their art ever further, their refusal to abdicate which echoes Michel Tremblay’s own determination to continue his work despite his stature as a living legend. .
To bring the theatrical characters on stage, director Serge Denoncourt called on renowned actors: Anne-Marie Cadieux (bright in Claire’s clothes), Maude Guérin, Henri Chassé (very fiery in the role of Benoit) , Isabelle Vincent, Patrick Hivon, Hubert Proulx (touching) and Mikhaïl Ahooja (unfortunately a little too caricatural in the role of the critic). Here, many find themselves taking on roles that are more subdued than usual, but the combination of all this raw talent — to which is added the imposing presence of Gilles Renaud — proves to be one of the many reasons that make of Dear Chekhov a great moment of theatre.
Dear Chekhov
By Michael Tremblay. Directed by Serge Denoncourt
New World TheaterUntil May 28